OAC Modern Western Civilizations
Unit 1
Age of the Enlightenment

This unit is designed to introduce students to the context which allowed for the development of the Enlightenment Era. Several "great thinkers" began their work in this period, as Europeans began to question the world around them. As people began to embrace knowledge, the authority of the Church was being questionned in almost every aspect of peoples' lives: science, politics, culture, economics and even a person's relationship with God.

"Sapere Aude! Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own intelligence" became the motto of the enlightenment period.

Unit Assignments

Using the text, pp. 3-9, complete the following chart.

Scientist	Discovery	Year	Impact on his time	Overall impact
Galileo
Copernicus
Kepler
Newton

Galileo
Read Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina and answer the following questions:

1. What characteristics best describe the reforms which met with success as compared to those that met with resistance?
2. How did Peter acheive his reforms?
3. How do the 3 authors differ in their views of Peter?
4. What generalizations can be made about the role of the individual in History? Consider both Peter and Louis XIV - would Russia and France have developed the way they did without them, or were their personalities critical to the growth of their states?

Hobbes
Read Hobbes' Leviathan and answer the following questions:

1. Why are men at war?

Test Review
Some of the people, places & things you should be familiar with:

Peter the Great	Catherine the Great	Louis XIV	Palace Revolutions
Rousseau	Social Contract	Scientific Revolution	Galileo
Newton	Heliocentricity	Absolutism	Divine Right
Edict of Nantes	Chambers of Reunion	League of Augsburg	Leviathan
Mercantilism	Hobbes	Locke	Northern War

Test Structure

Long Answers
    - respond to quote - 2 of the following topics will be on the test, you answer 1
             Russian Tsars - Louis XIV - Scientific Revolution

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